Water bath baking is a commonly-used process in the preparation of custards and cheesecakes. The water bath baking technique consists of placing a container (e.g., a pan, bowl or souffle dish) of food in a large, shallow pan of warm water. During the baking process, the water bath moderates the temperature around the perimeter of the pan, preventing overcooking at the edges. The water from the bath surrounds and protects delicate foods during the baking process and maintains an even, low-moisture heat. The water bath's even heat at a constant temperature allows even baking, and also prevents crust formation and rapid expansion, which can lead to cracking of surfaces. The technique is known in the art for use in the cooking of delicate dishes, including custards, flourless cakes, sauces and mousses.
Many flourless cake recipes call for using a springform and require the step of placing the springform into a water bath. A springform is a round, straight-sided pan with a removable bottom. In most springforms, the sides detach from the base by pulling a lever on the side of the pan. The detachable sides and bottom allow the removal of a cake from the pan without damaging the structure of the cake.
A problem associated with this baking technique is the leakage of water into the cake batter. Because the removable bottom of a springform is not water-tight, liquid from the water bath can leak into springform and cause the cake to be soggy or, depending on the amount of leakage, cause the cake to fall. A common solution to this problem is to line the outside of the springform with aluminum foil to separate the water bath from the cake batter. But as one or ordinary skill is well aware, a hole in the aluminum foil, even a pin-sized hole, can result in a soggy or fallen cake.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,644,858 to Liotto et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,475 to Villar Otero, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,030,344 to Young disclose baking pan assemblies similar to the springform pans described above. These patents describe baking pans that have removable sides, which allow a fragile baking product, like a cheesecake, to be removed without damage to the structure of the cake. But these patents do not address the problem of baking a fragile cake in a water bath.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,893 to Bowersmith discloses a double pan utensil for baking cakes with water insulation held between the spaced apart side walls of the two pans. In the Bowersmith patent, an inner cake pan is disclosed as removably receivable in an outer pan whose side walls are spaced apart from the side walls of the inner pan. The spacing provides a water receiving space that surrounds the inner pan side walls for insulating these walls from the oven heat during the baking of the cake. But in the Bowersmith device, the cake batter is held in the inner pan and the device provides no means by which a fragile cake can be removed from the inner pan without damage to the structure of the cake.
A recognized need therefore exists in the art for an improved apparatus and method for baking a good in a water bath that allows the removal of a fragile baked good without damage to the structure of the baking product.